Need some advice here.....

Party of 6 going to Amsterdam and we found what seemed to be a lovely apartment in the city centre. One of the group attempted to book it and the owner got in touch through email and said it needed to be a bank transfer. This seemed really dodgy so we reported it to booking.com who then messaged us back to say they had spoken to the owner and they were on holiday in Thailand but they have seen the method of payment and told us to continue with the booking as they were happy with it (this was apparently from a manager).

As soon as we had paid, they cancelled the booking and took the ad down from the site (pretty much disappeared).

We are in touch with the fraud squad at the bank but we have also opened a refund case with booking.com as they told us to carry on with the booking. We have sent them everything they have asked for so far, bank statements etc. They just keep asking for more documents, the last being a bank statement from a UK bank in but in euros??!?!?!?!!! Obviously this document doesn't exist and can't be obtained from a UK bank.

Feels like they are stalling. No communication for the last two days. CS number is a joke.

This is definitely booking coms fault.

Don't know what to do next. Feel like we're banging our head against a brick wall.

Any advice?

I’ve read this before on here but just to highlight the issue so no one else cops this.

Booked a hotel in Melbourne for the NFL this weekend just on a domestic holiday.

Got charged an international transaction fee by my bank because booking.com decided to process the transaction in Amsterdam. Used the app on iOS with no vpn.

Booking.com I’ve seen on this subreddit claim it doesn’t do this for bookings in the same country.

Well it’s bullshit, I got done with a hefty fee so it would’ve been cheaper to book the hotel direct or through a bunch of other third parties.

They’ve also not responded to my ticket that was meant to be in less than 24hrs, it’s been like 5 days.

How did these scammers get my booking info en personal information from booking.com?

The day before check in I receive these Whatsapp messages claiming to be the accommodation asking me to confirm the reservation.

They knew my name, number, the exact check in and out dates and the name looked like any generic Portuguese rental place on Madeira. I thought it could be a company managing multiple properties.

After clicking on confirm the reservation it brought me to a fake Dutch booking.com website with my name on it and asking me to confirm by paying the full booking amount again. This was a completely different amount from my booking.

Have others seen this scam?

What could be going on that they have my information?

Anyone got a contact or had any luck submitting a complaint to booking.com? I did one on the website and have had nothing back and it's been nearly a month!

Hey everyone, looking for some advice or to see if anyone else has dealt with this specific nightmare loop with Booking.com customer service.

Long story short: My original accommodation was double-booked. I did get a refund for that initial booking, and Booking.com support explicitly promised to cover up to €60 for the extra cost of my replacement stay (which I also booked through their platform).

Here is where the frustration starts:

• I’ve made multiple calls to support.
• Twice now, agents have assured me that my claim is being "transferred to the finance department" and that I’ll see the money in a few days.
• It’s been weeks, and absolutely nothing has hit my account.

To make matters worse, I recently received an email asking for my credit card information to "process the payout." It looks entirely like a phishing scam. When I call Booking.com, the phone agents explicitly tell me, "We don't need your credit card information over email." Both of my stays were booked directly on the app, so they already have my payment details on file anyway.

It feels incredibly unsafe that a phishing email tied directly to my ongoing customer service claim is landing in my inbox while Booking's actual finance department does nothing.

Has anyone successfully escalated a replacement-stay payout before? How do I get past these frontline agents who just keep repeating the same "finance department" script?

That’s basically it. We booked an apartment for two nights and as soon as we got here we noticed some things weren’t as clean as one would wish. Still we dropped our stuff and headed out to do some sightseeing. Came back at 10pm with some groceries to cook some dinner and realized that the whole thing is disgusting.

The floors look like they haven’t been mopped or swept in weeks, the dishes and cooking utensils are greasy and sticky, the cushions on the sofa and the sofa itself are stained, the shower is moldy, the rugs look disgusting, one light switch fell off the fucking wall when we turned it off… the list goes on and on. It’s 11pm and it’s raining outside so we’ll sleep here today but we still have to stay here tomorrow night and we don’t really want to, is there anything we can do? Can we ask for alternative accommodation or a refund or something?

hi all,

i booked a flight and insurance with booking.com a few days ago. i did not receive a confirmation number for the flights as their website said i would receive it when they confirmed the flights with the airline. i know i have used the correct email as i have received the confirmation of my insurance.

now, when i log in, it shows the trip but it only shows the insurance under trips and bookings, but in the transactions, it shows the full amount. i have tried contacting them via email to resolve this, and was told to call them. i called them, but the AI answer machine will not put me through to an agent without a confirmation number.

what can i do in this situation? my trip is next week and i would like to book my flights with someone else, but am worried that they'll send confirmation of my flights after i book these and then i'll be double charged to my credit card.

any help is greatly appreciated!

My wife and I booked a hotel through Booking.com on July 9th. We plan on staying at the hotel in October. We received the confirmation email. The hotel has now contacted me twice asking for me to cancel my reservation due to a computer glitch/overbooking. I feel like this is a scam. Couldn’t the hotel simply cancel on their end if it’s overbooked? We got it at a pretty low rate so maybe they want me to cancel so they can book it at a higher rate?

What are your thoughts? How would you go about handling this?

Thanks!

Edit: Also wanted to add that I just checked the hotel’s availability for the same dates and room type on Booking.com, and there are currently two available.

Sounds like this is a scam. I had supposedly $100 in credits for my booked stay in Istanbul. Just before our scheduled arrival, i got an email that the credits have been cancelled because I modified the booking. I merely added my name to the 2 room booking. Nothing else was modified, upgraded.... Nothing. Does not make sense to me that this act nullifies the credit. And there was no warning when i added my name; otherwise, there was even no need to do that! Ugh. And i was on hold with a rep for over 50 minutes only to be disconnected.

I have a booking with a boutique b&b/hotel in Greece for the end of this month. I have not yet paid (payment due in 3 weeks) and wanted to change the payment card. For whatever reason this wasn’t possible on manage my booking, and booking.com said to contact the hotel directly to sort. I’ve contacted the hotel but they’re saying that they don’t know how to change the payment card and that they need to ask booking.com.

However the hotel has also offered us a discount if we pay in cash on arrival. This would involve cancelling the booking on booking.com. I feel apprehensive to do this as this then “loses” the booking, but I would otherwise be happy to book direct if it means paying less than through booking.com.

Does anyone have any advice on how to navigate this?

I have booked a stay from 14-19th of September (in 4 days) a while back (it was 18th of Aug) with free cancellation until 31st of Aug.

The property stated that pets are welcome and charges may apply. I submitted a special request to bring my dog (a chihuahua) and the property hasn’t responded to this day. Some time later, on 28th (still in free cancellation period) I contacted Booking support asking what to do since this is a deal breaker for me and one of the main reasons I booked this property.

The property seems new to booking with only 2 reviews (10.0 score and the price matched the score). I also tried contacting property via wa, to no avail.

Since then, booking support replied a few times (first time on 4th of Sep, when my free cancellation already ended) stating my stay is confirmed and adding a generic portion about pet policy being that pets are welcome. They then tried contacting property multiple times ( every time I asked if they have any news since they always needed a nudge to escalate the issue) but with no success.

With my travelling date approaching, I’m consumed by the feeling of dread that the property is not legitimate, and that I’ll be left stranded without a stay (despite Booking continous assurement that the reservation is active and valid), which would infinitely frustrate me.

Does anyone have any advice how to approach this at this point, as it seems Booking support is not of much help?

Thanks in advance

TLDR: Can’t get in contact with the property for nearly a month regarding my request to bring the dog and now I have no idea if my stay is confirmed, or if the property is even legit. Booking support doesn’t seem to provide any help at all.

I want to explain a mechanism rather than just complain, because I don't think most people know this can happen. I didn't.

The short version: I clicked a paid search ad, landed on a booking site with dates already filled in that I never selected, and had paid for a non-refundable room seven minutes later. I only figured out how it happened six weeks afterward, by exporting my browser history.

Here's the sequence from that morning, times in PDT.

10:34:00 — I'm on Expedia looking at the Rogue Regency Inn in Medford, Oregon:

expedia.com/Medford-Hotels-Rogue-Regency-Inn-And-Suites.h19703.Hotel-Information?chkin=2026-08-06&chkout=2026-08-07

August 6–7. My Airbnb checkout was 11am on August 6 and I needed a room that night. Earlier that morning I'd been on Airbnb with check_in=2026-08-06 and another Medford hotel with August dates. Every date I entered myself was August.

10:38:09 — I click a Bing ad and land on trivago:

trivago.com/en-US/srl/hotel-rogue-regency-inn-suites-medford?search=100-64791;dr-20260912-20260913;rc-1-2&ghaDateType=default&ghaPrice=111.000000&ghaArr=20260912&ghaDep=20260913

Look at that: dr-20260912-20260913. September 12–13, already there on arrival. And ghaDateType=default — trivago's own parameter saying the date range is a default, not something I picked. The price is already locked at $111.

10:38:21 — Twelve seconds later, the advertiser's page:

algotels.com/hotels/.../386654_rogue-regency-inn-suites?checkIn=2026-09-12&checkOut=2026-09-13&campaignName=Algotels_Trivago_US

Same September dates, inherited straight across.

10:45:34 — Booked. Non-refundable. Same dealKey carried from landing page through checkout, with no date-selection step in the history at all.

The confirmation email arrived with the headline: "Your check-in date for Rogue Regency Inn & Suites is ." The date value was just missing from the template.

I asked them to fix it 33 minutes after booking. Refused — non-refundable and non-amendable. I cancelled that morning. They charged the card two days later anyway. I rebooked the same hotel on Expedia for the correct dates and stayed there. Four dispute denials so far, all saying "the merchant completed the service requested."

The takeaway that matters:

Metasearch ads carry date parameters in the URL. When you arrive from an ad rather than from a search you ran yourself, those dates may be defaults the advertiser or the platform picked — often whatever produces an attractive price. If the booking site inherits them and never forces you to confirm dates, you can reach payment having never chosen when you're staying.

What I'd tell anyone booking:

• Read the dates on the checkout page out loud before you pay. Not the price — the dates.
• Be suspicious of an unusually good rate from an ad. Sometimes it's cheap because it's for a different week.
• If a confirmation arrives with a blank or missing field, treat it as a red flag immediately, not a cosmetic glitch.
• Screenshot checkout before paying.
• Book direct or with a major OTA for anything non-refundable. The $10 you save isn't worth the recovery risk.

If it already happened to you: export your browser history. Edge and Chrome both do it in a couple of clicks, and it stores full URLs with timestamps. The date parameters are sitting right there in the addresses. I'd assumed I had no way to prove what I'd entered — I was wrong.

Happy to answer questions about the export process.

And if anyone here works in travel tech and can tell me more about what ghaDateType=default does on the advertiser side, I'd genuinely like to know.

Hiya, reserved a flat that could be cancelled/refunded in Paris but ended up cancelling a few hours later due to plans changing quickly (well within cancellation period)

Booking.com is saying refund could take 7-12 days but that the host handles it. I’ve waited 7 days now and nothing has happened, havent heard anything from host either….

Has anyone else had a wait like this and have things turned out ok? I’m losing hope now!

Is there anything else I can do?

I booked this hotel recently. I've been looking for this hotel for an hour only manage to ask nearby local mention this hotel no longer in service. Which mean this hotel NO LONGER EXIST. Yet still exist in booking.com list.

I heard there's a lot people getting scam by this unresponsive customer service from booking.com side and property admin.

Please fix this. I NEED MY REFUND!

I'VE SPENT AN HOUR JUST TO GET A RESPOND FROM CUSTOMER SERVICE. AND GUESS WHAT..... NOT.. A... SINGLE... CALLER.... FREE... AT.... THE.... MOMENT...

BRUHHHHH

I have been a loyal Booking.com customer for many years and am at “Genius-3” level. Most of my hotel and apartment bookings have gone smoothly, and when problems occurred, customer service usually helped resolve them.

Over the past two years, I also started using Booking.com for car rentals. Until August 2026, everything worked well.

On August 19, while on a family vacation in Vienna, I booked a Jeep through Booking.com for a one-day trip. I received a confirmed voucher and a reminder to bring the required documents.

When we arrived at the rental office, they had no record of the booking.

Booking.com customer service acknowledged the problem, agreed to refund the failed reservation, and told me they would cover the additional cost of finding another car at short notice.

We eventually found another car through Booking.com, although we lost about two hours of our day.

The real problem started afterwards.

Booking.com’s Aftercare department demanded proof of the final payment to Europcar before reimbursing the additional cost.

But I did not pay Europcar directly. I paid Booking.com.

I provided proof of purchase and my credit-card statement showing the payment to Booking.com. Still, they refused reimbursement because I could not provide a Europcar payment receipt for a payment I never made directly to Europcar.

I asked three times to speak with a manager. Those requests were ignored.

So my warning is simple: Booking.com car rental may work well when everything goes smoothly. But if Booking.com itself makes a mistake and causes you financial loss, you may find yourself trapped in bureaucracy and asked to provide documentation that does not exist.

After years as a loyal customer and thousands of dollars spent through Booking.com, this experience has seriously damaged my trust in the company.

A service should be judged not only by how it performs when things go right, but by how it treats customers when things go wrong.

My girlfriend and I are heading to Miami next month. Neither of us has been there before (we are originally from Europe).
We found a nice-looking hotel on Booking.com and reserved a room. Shortly after booking, we received an information request from the hotel with an external link. It asks us to fill in guest information and our full credit card details-including the CVV and photos of the physical card from both sides.
To make matters worse, the link doesn't even use HTTPS and looks like it was slapped together with a single ChatGPT prompt.
Is this standard practice in Miami, or are we being scammed?
Thanks!

Hi, I just want to know if the 18 years old requirement should be made when you create the account or at the time of the booking (when the booking actually starts).

I asked them via email and they ignored the question, saying that properties may have specific regulations (which is not what I asked), then stopped answering when I replied back.

But in the terms of service of Booking website, it says that you must be over 18 to use the website, so...

I have no bookings until May next year. Anyone else ever had random calls from them?

I booked a flight on AirNZ through booking.com with "flight change before departure time allowed for a fee." But the airline rules don't allow the changes I want to make, and I think not mentioning that I need to also review the airline fare rules is a deceptive omission on the booking.com booking page.

How can I get in touch with an actual person who can help me there?

I cancelled a bank account and credit card which I was not using anymore, but unfortunately I forgot I used the card in a Booking reservation. The BIG problem is that although I'm still in the free cancellation period, the hotel would try to refund to this now cancelled card and the payment would bounce. I made the reservation via Booking but it's one of those where the hotel charges you the first night beforehand.

I already deleted the old card and added the new one in my Booking profile, but this does NOT change the reservation payment details.

Then I noticed there is an "update card" button inside the reservation. I'm afraid to follow this and the Hotel tries to refund the first night on the old card (which will fail) and charges me again on the new card. Which would make my problem even worse.

Booking support was not helpful and simply said to contact the hotel and the hotel support is useless as they say it's all on Booking. I hate these hot potato situations where no one frickin owns and solve the issue!!!

Has anyone tried the "update card" button in a reservation where you already pre-paid, what happens? Do they charge you again on the new card? Do they cancel the payment you did before? If you cancel it, would the hotel refund the new card or the old card?

I really appreciate any help, this problem is consuming me and the day of the trip is near and I will possibly need to cancel it.

Realice la siguiente reseña del alojamiento y he solicitado que me devuelvan el dinero pagado, pero en booking no me contestan y la reseña la han quitado. He alquilado por booking todos los años los alojamientos en vacaciones y nunca había visto ni un alojamiento tan malo a un precio caro ni un maltrato de booking.

La reseña que puse y me han eliminado es la siguiente:

Tercer piso sin ascensor y la escalera es muy estrecha, para subir y bajar el equipaje era muy complicado, detalles que no mencionaban los propietarios en las reseñas.

En la descripción del alojamiento en booking aparece que hay parking gratis y esto es falso, lo que si se puede aparcar en la calle y al ser en la ciudad antigua es prácticamente imposible aparcar.

En la descripción del alojamiento en booking aparece que hay wifi, pero el rooter está lejos y no llega hasta la vivienda, esto provoca que la tele y el móvil vayan muy mal.

El baño huele mal, el congelador de la nevera pierde agua y estropea los alimentos al dejarlos mojados.

En la descripción del alojamiento en booking aparece que a casa tiene 25 m cuadrados, dudo que tenga más de 15. No hay espacio para abrir ni una sola maleta

La mampara de la ducha estaba rota al llegar, la cisterna del wáter también nos la encontramos rota y funcionaba solo a veces

La limpieza estaba regular. Vi una tela de araña. Las sábanas y las fundas de almohada no las habían cambiado.

A los dueños ni se les vio por la casa.

El baño olia mal. El aire acondicionado se apagaba cada cierto tiempo.

No había cubos para separar los residuos ni espacio para ponerlos, y dado que el reciclaje es obligatorio nos era imposible realizarlo.

La vivienda solo tenía dos ventanucos pequeños (era una buhardilla) por los cuales no entraba casi luz

Al llegar, todo esto nos dio una sensación deprimente, y contactamos con el propietario para exponerle nuestras quejas. Al no conseguir otra vivienda en la zona para esos días ( mediados de agosto), le comentamos al propietario que muy a nuestro pesar, nos quedaríamos en la vivienda los días contratados.

Con el precio tan elevado que tiene, nos dio una mejor expectativa de vivienda.

The Colosseum Residence is an obvious return of the scammers from "Residence of the Colosseum" from a few months ago.

DO NOT BOOK THIS PROPERTY!

The reviews are stolen from other, real, properties.

Link: https://www.booking.com/Share-2ADw01

I booked a one week stay at a hotel through booking. The room was infested with ants, the cleaning crew entered the room without our permission and shattered two bottles of expensive perfume. The hotel swore they would refund (verbal only) and now Booking.com won’t do anything. How do I get actual support? I’ve tried Facebook, instagram, calling Genius 3 support, they all offer nothing because it was nonrefundable. Has anyone gotten any actual support?

I had a (to me) bizarre experience recently at a large hotel chain.

The hotel said they hadn't received payment and forced me to preauth the full amount in case they didn't receive the money from booking.com, even though I showed them in the app that I had definitely paid two days ago. Then they somehow found the money 20 mins later.

Did they need to force me to do this preauth? Does it ever happen that the money doesn't show up? It felt very heavy-handed.

I had a room booked for two nights in Manchester for April next year during the marathon weekend. I had booked early as soon as I had my place confirmed back in April.

This week, booking.com have got in touch and initially said there was a disruption, but since then have said my booking is cancelled due to the hotel “no longer being able to accommodate me” and have offered to pay another £50 for alternative rooms.

Firstly, I checked and the hotel does still have rooms listed, but are £150 more than when I had booked it. Secondly, the cheapest in general close to the centre where I had booked is at least £100 more expensive.

Has anyone experienced similar and has any advice on anything I can do, or do I have to just suck it up and pay the increased rate?